Fifty years goes by fast

COEUR d'ALENE — Al Metz and John Barton shook hands for a good long moment, their minds searching for why the other looked so familiar.

Their eyes lit up as the memories flooded in, taking them back to the Hollywood set of the television program "Daktari."

"Oh gosh, I haven't seen you since the mid-'60s, up until today," a smiling Barton said to Metz during a Wednesday evening dinner at the Meadowbrook Community Hall in Cougar Gulch.

"I recognized his face," Barton said. "After he started talking, bing. I'm good with faces, lousy with names. We both worked under the same directors."

It's been nearly 50 years since Metz, 97 and Barton, 78, worked together on "Daktari," a popular program that aired in the 1960s about veterinarians in Africa. Barton worked in Hollywood for 50 years and was a prop master for the show while Metz trained the lions, tigers, elephants and even Bruno the Bear, whom he also trained for the "Gentle Ben" series.

Metz was especially fond of a tiger named Serang.

"Serang is one of the most beautiful tigers I ever worked with," he said. "I got this one picture with Sereng, and everybody says, 'Al, you're crazy.' I just couldn't resist it. I was kneeling down and Sereng was kneeling down and he looked over at me and he put his head down by mine. I couldn't resist it so I kissed him on the nose."

"You're kidding," Barton replied, astonished.

Barton and Metz sat at a table and swapped stories and memories while enjoying their meal, which was coordinated as a "thank you" to local veterans.

Metz, wearing his World War II veteran cap, discussed how he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps when he was 16, but had to wait a year or so to be old enough to see active duty.

"I came home from school one morning," Metz said. "I told my dad, 'You were in World War I?' and he says, 'Yeah, son, why?' I said, 'Dad, I'm going to make you proud of me, because I just enlisted in the Air Corps.'"

Metz served in France, Germany, Italy and North Africa. He worked "maintaining communications between pilots and the area they were flying into, because a lot of them had not flown into that area before." He said he was, and still is, incredibly proud of how Americans banded together during World War II.

"I am so proud of the American people. They had a tough time during the recession," Metz said. "The way the American people pulled together, you don't have people pulling together like that any more. We had a tough job to do and we did it."

"We had a purpose," Barton said.

Although Barton was too young to enlist when the war was happening, he still did his part.

"I was the little guy running around trying to find newspapers and magazines and we'd pull our wagons," he said. "It was all for the war effort."

About 20 military veterans and their wives attended the meal, presented by event organizer Matt Johnson of Coeur d'Alene. Johnson coordinated a Veterans Day dinner last year to honor local veterans of all eras and say "thank you" for their service. He said he chose May 11 because it is the halfway point to Veterans Day and this is just one small thing he can do to show the veterans his gratitude.

"It's amazing," he said of getting everyone together and facilitating Metz and Barton's reunion. "I'm trying not to succumb to overwhelming sentimentality."

Barton's wife of 53 years, Joy, sat next to her husband as he reminisced with his old work friend. She smiled as they told stories of working with the animals and Hollywood.

Barton also had a big cat he remembered well — Jackie, one of MGM's original lions.

"He didn't have a tooth in his head," he said. "I remember one time they brought Jackie in, they'd let him walk around. He walked in and he leaned on me. He'd just lean on you, and he was about 400-500 pounds. Then he'd rub himself and keep going."

"I loved every one of the animals I ever worked with," Metz said. "They got the best of care. I'd take them out, they'd go swimming with me. I would groom them. I can't even explain it, I loved the animals so much."

Joy said it was really nice to have her husband and Metz together again because they really relate to each other.

"(People) need to know these things," she said. "Otherwise, it's going to be lost."